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It’s the latest in a back-and-forth about witnesses testifying before Issa’s committee in a series of hearings on Benghazi.

Pickering and and Admiral Michael Mullen have requested the ability to respond publicly to criticism of a review the two retired officials conducted of the Benghazi attacks. Cummings has called on Issa to let the pair testify to defend their names.

But Issa is insisting that Republicans and Democratic staffers get a pre-testimony crack at the witnesses by interviewing them behind closed doors first, saying staff and members have only had access to an unclassified version of the Accountability Review Board report on Benghazi.

“While I am very much committed to having you testify publicly and appreciate your newfound willingness to do so, I was disappointed that you are attempting to limit the Committee’s understanding of the Accountability Review Board by refusing to participate in a voluntary transcribed interview prior to testifying publicly,” Issa said in a letter to Pickering.

The subpoena compels Pickering to sit for an interview in room 2157 of the Rayburn office building at 10 a.m. on May 23rd.

Cummings called the subpoena to appear in a closed-door interview an attempt by Issa to silence the response from someone shooting down the chairman’s criticism of the attacks.

“Today’s subpoena is a stark example of extreme Republican overreach and the shameful politicization of this tragedy,” Cummings said in a statement. “Chairman Issa is now imposing new conditions to keep them behind closed doors. The Chairman should reverse his decision, conduct a responsible and bipartisan investigation, and allow the American people to hear directly from these officials.”

Whether a witness sits for a taped interview can be a point of contention between committee members. Democrats frequently charged that they were not given the ability to interview Mark Thompson, who testified during the last House Oversight Committee on Benghazi.

Mullen and Pickering oversaw the Accountability Review Board’s investigation into the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 that killed four,including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. The ARB report and the panel’s investigation was a point of contention during the House hearing earlier this month.

During the hearing, Republicans on the committee questioned Gregory Hicks, who was in charge of the embassy in Tripoli at the time of the attacks, about the ARB’s interviews of him. Hicks said he felt the investigation had not been properly conducted because he was unable to review his testimony after giving it and because he wasn’t allowed to read a classified version of the report.

In a letter to Issa, Pickering objected to the depiction of the ARB review and requested the ability to testify before the committee.

“We believe that such criticisms are unfounded and, if left unaddressed, undermine the essential work that the Board has done as well as the purpose of the congressionally-mandated accountability review board process,” Pickering wrote to Issa.